Tuesday, January 21, 2014

I think a good fantasy story, (and I mean fantasy as distinct from science fiction or any other category of fiction) should make us want to look at our actual world from a new perspective. While a poor fantasy story will make us bored with, and disinterested in, our actual world.

There are other elements necessary to good fantasy stories of course, but I feel like this is an integral one. Good fantasy, wether it is writing, film, artwork, a game, or whatever, should make us want to explore and become more curious about the world we live in.

While the second Hobbit film disappointed me as a Tolkien story, I really enjoyed it as a fantasy story.

The film, with its amazing landscapes and powerful vistas, made me want to get out and explore the world. The treks over mountains made me want to go backpacking. The barrel-riding scenes made me want to go kayaking. Smaug's lair made me want to hop some fences and do some urban exploring in that old abandoned chemical plant down the highway.

It reminded me that there are still wonders to explore. (Okay, maybe the chemical plant one isn’t the best idea. But you get what I’m saying right?)

This same idea applies to representational art for me as well.

There is a great deal of naturalist art, which borders on the fantastic. And it has much the same effect on me.

Thomas Moran and Albert Beirstadt’s work, while being that of naturalists recording the world around them, also has elements of the fantastic in them. The images are transportive, and they capture something beyond that of photography, something sublime, a momentary glimpse into eternity.

Their paintings are scenes born in the American wilderness, but they are often an amalgamation of different places and times of day, combined together to capture the essence of a place. They give a sense of the wonder and grandeur found outside our own fences.

Caspar David Friedrich’s gorgeous and haunting chapel scenes stretch even further. They instill a desire to visit ruins and learn about the people who made them and why their works have fallen. But Friedrich’s visions take it a step further, somehow making us also consider our own life’s eventual twilight.

Like the Hobbit film, these naturalist painters put in me a desire to escape my safe, suburban life for a while and see what is out there in the wilderness over the hills. And I think that is pretty great.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NEWS! : Annie and I have launched a new website, blog and gallery. Check it out at:

Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Since this is a night scene I am starting out with colder colors, but I'm still working monochrome. Usually I work in monochromatic browns because they are so friendly to work over top of.

Blues, and colder tones in general, can get tricky for me. But for certain circumstances I really need to start out with cold or at least grey tones. Otherwise I am just going to spend too long working backwards to get where I want to go.

And yes, that is a fireplace behind the painting. The old studio was too small for this one so we had to take the show to the living room.

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. And if those two lazy freeloading cats of mine want to lay in front of a nice, warm fire then they will just have to go get jobs like the rest of us and maybe then they can buy their own fireplace.

And maybe then they could contribute to society for once in their miserable lives.

This is me in front of a nice, warm fire. CONTRIBUTING.

SEE CATS? NOW GO GET A JOB.

The colors I am using here are mostly warms, which by contrast helps to pull the figures out from the background. It is one of my favorite parts of using a colder palette.

The Gryphon.

Ever see that BBC Natural World documentary on Harpy Eagles? They are crazy looking animals and I love them.

However, much as I love them, I need to push the gryphon's value intensity back some here. He is a major part of the story, but I kind of want him to be more in the shadows. So that it makes more sense that the dwarves didn't see him when they walked in.

These are the times when I miss all my digital tricks...

It is about 90% finished. I will have a really nice photo of the final version next time!

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

So after some time away I am back! (Special thanks to Cory Godbey for holding down the fort for me while I went and got married and explored some sea caves in the Caribbean and was almost nearly kidnapped and eaten by bats.)

But I am back and I am painting again. And for Christmas Eve this year I'd like to share a few preliminaries for my next painting with you.

Rough Design GO!

This painting is a private commission and will be done 4'x6' oil on canvas. I've been having a lot of fun working larger and am looking forward to tackling something this size.

Working large makes this early design stage really important for me. Once I blow the drawing up and transfer it to the canvas I start to lose track of things fast. Proportions start to slide off and perspective warps.

So I like to nail down a really solid design here. The little bits like leaves and individual bricks don't matter, but faces and poses and characters relations to one another is extremely important.

Color Comp GO!

Figuring out the light source and shadows is really important. Ultimately its story though. And we need to figure out what is the story is here most of all.

Is it more interesting to have an ultimate-samurai-warrior-navy-seal-who looks like George Washington in a bear suit?

Or a lost pizza delivery guy?

Or a band of adventurers of dubious character who are trying for the big one?

I don't know. So we spend some time sketching to figure it out.

Next Week: George Washington in a bear suit and a transfer to a very large canvas.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

I have been adding colors in glazes recently using mostly just oil with a bit of Walnut Alkyd Medium when needed. The next step is to go in and recapture all the shadows again. After that, it's final highlights and a unifying glaze and we're done.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

A few years ago I did a number of illustrations from the Silmarillion. It was a personal project that I did in my spare time.

As with other personal projects of mine, when client work started coming in I had to shelve it.

I hate to leave projects behind, but it happens every now and then. I think it is really good to have a store of unfinished work to go back to. That way you are never bored. There is always something you could be working on; something more you could be exploring.

This little study of a Noldor elf and a werewolf is at the top of my little list of paintings to get back to when the time allows.

Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Last week I shipped out all the 2013 sketchbook orders! We sold out of the DELUXE editions on day one, and now it's time to roll the dice and see who got what!

There is no rhyme or reason to these sketches, I just sit down and sketch for about 3 days and see what turns up. As the drawings are finished the sketchbooks are placed in order and then whatever number you are when you order, that is the one you get.

Sometimes you get wizards...

...And sometimes you get crocs.

And maybe more wizards.

And maybe a few Ents.

There were also a lot of mostly harmless dragons.

And a lot of angry dwarves.

And some lucky person gets #43, which was probably my favorite of the bunch:

It was a good batch and I hope everyone likes them. Until next year...

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

After a week of shameless self-promotion, I am now offering a post with what is hopefully something more artistically useful...

For those of you who missed it, I had an artist's booth at DragonCon in Atlanta.
For the show this year, I decided I would do a dragon mini-portrait painting. (Do you get it? A dragon for...Dragon... ? I know, I know, highly original. I am living right out there on the very edge of the fantasy art world.)

Anyway, so I started sketching. I was thinking, "This guy, he's a huge dragon, and he's really ripping this castle up; just trashing the place. And he is loving it. Yeah, yeah this'll be great."

As I went along I added a lot of smoke and more of the castle falling down around him. It was a lot of fun.

Then I finished the painting. (It was watercolor and gouache on bristol, by the way.)

But it was missing something. It was so...

boring.

I mean, I should have known right? There is literally no story here. And I felt like, surely I can do better than this. I'm a high school graduate after all.

There was just nothing of any substance here. Sure he was real mad. And that castle was getting real trashed. But there was no context for any of it. I mean, who cares right? I don't even know or care whose castle this is. And the audience certainly doesn't know or care.

I got kind of depressed about it. How am I going to sell this at the show? Everyone would be whispering at the booth when they didn't know I was spying on them.
"That Gerard is an over-rated hack."
"Yeah he is. I hear he doesn't even really paint anymore. Just talks about how great a painter he is on blogs mostly nowadays."
"Isn't he running some kind of pyramid scheme?"
"I don't know what you are talking about. But say, have you heard of Amway? You look like a smart guy and who would like to make a lot of money working from the comfort of his or her own home..."

Anyway, so I light the curtains on fire, crash my car, stumble off into the night and wake up the next day wearing a pancho, several garbage bags, a tear-stained face and a stray cat. But with a resolution to not do such a boring painting.

On the flight back home I drew this guy. (Cory Godbey was there. Thanks Cory.) I had realized what I needed. I needed some kind of further context; some kind of irony.

Like most people I read books, and when I do, I find myself imagining myself as the hero, the dude, the gunslinger, the knight. Who is it who is imagining himself as this giant, fire-breathing dragon? And that is where this little chameleon comes in.

Now the piece makes more sense. It has a story to it. It wasn't much of an addition, but it works better now.

All in all I was much happier with the final piece and I think it did better at the convention for it. (We sold out the first run!) So I guess the lesson here is don't be afraid to stop and think about the message in your piece before finishing it. Even if you have to do some reworking. Make it tell something good that touches us in some way.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

If you missed the previous post, the details are:
1. Sweet New Sketchbook. It's just like the old sketchbooks EXCEPT IT'S TOTALLY NEW.
2. It's out today.

Okay, one other thing: I am doing something a little different this year. In past years I have done the first 50 order receive a hand-drawn image on the front page. For previous years results check out:201120122010 Re-release

This has been a lot of fun, but has often-times ended in abject pandemonium. So, this year, I am experimenting with something new and am going to be offering 2 separate books.

The Standard Edition will arrive hand-signed and is $20. It's just like the normal order from previous years.

The Deluxe Limited Edition will arrive, hand-signed and individually numbered (1-50), with an original drawing on the front page and it also includes a bookmark. The Deluxe Edition will be $40. This one is limited to only 50, and once they are gone they are gone.

Deluxe Drawings!

Deluxe Bookmarks!

Deluxe Things!

(Deluxe Treasure Chest not included)

This is going to be available online for a limited time only: Tuesday, September 10th through Tuesday, October 15th.

I will also be offering 8"x10" signed prints this year of a number of my images. (More on this soon) So get your Christmas shopping done early!

Friday, September 06, 2013

Hi Guys!
I am going to be releasing Sketchbook 2013: The Four Dwarves on Tuesday, September the 10th, at 11am EST!

I am doing something a little different this year. In past years I have done the first 50 order recieve a hand-drawn image on the front page. For previous years results check out:201120122010 Re-release

This has been a lot of fun, but a little chaotic. So, this year, I am experimenting with something new and am going to be offering 2 separate books.

The Standard Edition will arrive hand-signed and is $20. Much like the normal order from previous years.

The Deluxe Limited Edition will arrive, hand-signed, individually numbered (1-50) and with a bookmark. The Deluxe Edition will be $40. This one is limited to only 50, and once they are gone they are gone.

Also, this is going to be available online for a limited time only:

Tuesday, September 10th through Tuesday, October 15th.

I will also be offering 8"x10" signed prints this year of a number of my images. (More on this soon) So get your Christmas shopping done early! It all ends October 15th!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Hi guys! Quick post today as I am drowning in oil paintings at the moment. These are a few teaser images today from this year's sketchbook which will be available this September.

This year's sketchbook will be a little different than previous year's books and will be leading up to something a lot bigger that I hope to release in 2014. I've been doing some writing. (More on this soon.)

"What do you mean, 'some writing?' You have all the grammatical abilities of a three-legged goat.